Six months' of water supply assured to Mumbai due to rains: BMC

Water levels in seven reservoirs which supply water to the city has increased substantially and this is expected to enable water supply for at least six months, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Water levels in seven reservoirs which supply water to the city has increased substantially and this is expected to enable water supply for at least six months, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said in Mumbai on Tuesday.

"The seven dam reservoirs which supply water to 1.22 billion people in Mumbai have a capacity of 14,47,363 million litres. So far, all dams have 6,75,123 million litres of water stock, which is equal to 46.64% of the total stock," BMC's chief hydraulic engineer Ashok Tawadia said.

According to a chart of the water level, released by the civic administration, all dams received either equal or more water as on Tuesday morning, as compared to the previous year.

The BMC supplies 3,750 million litres of water everyday to Mumbai and its suburbs, which falls short of the city's actual demand for 4,200 million litres of water.

In the recent past, insufficient rainfall had forced the BMC to supply less water.

"There is no cause of concern as of now, because all dams have crossed the minimum-level mark," BMC spokesperson Vijay Khabale said, adding that hydraulic engineers monitor lake levels closely.

Mumbai's water supply comes from seven reservoirs which store rainwater collected during the rainy season.

These are Modak Sagar, Tansa Lake, Vihar Lake, Tulsi Lake, Upper Vaitarna, Bhatsa and Middle Vaitarna. Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna come under the Maharashtra state government's control, while the rest are managed and maintained by the BMC.

Apart from lesser rainfall, the metropolitan region's rapid population growth and huge losses due to leaking pipelines as well as illegal water connections tapping into these pipelines have always been a matter of concern for civic officials.